The present invention relates to an improved infant incubator.
The purpose of an infant incubator is to secure and improve the chances of survival of a premature or weakly infant. This is accomplished by keeping the infant in an environment which is warm, moist and contains sufficient oxygen. A premature infant has a low body weight, and thus a body temperature which is close to the ambient temperature. The premature infant is therefore very vulnerable, to temperature swings, and consequently major efforts have been made to develop incubators which maintain as constant a temperature as possible.
The incubators dominating today""s market comprise a lower section housing equipment for adjusting the temperature and the composition of the gas delivered to the premature infant. Placed on this lower section is an upper section made of a transparent material, through which there are provided closable portholes to allow the premature infant to be cared for without removing the whole of the upper section. Inside the incubator, the infant lies on a mattress which forms the dividing line between the upper and the lower section. The gas in the incubator comprising air, possibly with the addition of extra oxygen and moisture, circulates up between the walls of the incubator and the mattress on one side, and down into a corresponding opening on the opposite side of the incubator. To improve the flow pattern of the gas, an inner wall is often provided in the upper section of the incubator, causing the gas to flow up and down between the outer shell and the inner wall in the upper section of the incubator. Means for heating, humidifying and circulating the air flow are provided in the lower section of the incubator. This means that a heating element and a fan are located in proximity to the premature infant. The heating""element and fan may be the source of some electromagnetic radiation, a radiation which at present is the subject of intense discussion with respect to whether it has any effects on health. In addition, and more importantly, a fan of this kind cannot be entirely noise-free and is thus the source of an acoustic nuisance for the tiny patient.
Moreover, when a porthole is opened in the upper section, the circulating air will draw the colder air of the surroundings with it into the incubator, which may cause the temperature in such an incubator to fall by about 2xc2x0 C. when a door is open for more than 10 minutes. A temperature drop of this kind may at first seem to be insignificant, but is most unfortunate for the extraordinarily vulnerable premature infant who has little energy to burn and low heat capacity. The doors must be opened from time to time to care for and carry out test procedures on the premature infant. Moreover, it is desirable that the premature infant should not be completely isolated from the surroundings since, just as other infants, the premature infant needs body contactxe2x80x94even if nothing more than the touch of a friendly hand. The portholes in the incubator may therefore remain open for many periods of more than 10 minutes.
The object of the present invention is to provide an infant incubator where the aforementioned problems are obviated.
This is achieved according to the present invention by means of an incubator for a prematurely born or weakly infant comprising a base section which serves as a support for both the infant placed in the incubator and a protective top section or hood which is made of a substantially transparent material, wherein the base section houses means for causing air to circulate to the chamber enclosed by the base section and the top section, and means for adjusting the temperature, composition and humidity of the air, and ducts for the supply of air to the chamber and the outlet of air from the chamber respectively, and wherein the top section consists of an outer shell and an inner shell, which shells rest on the base section and wherein the inner shell is open at the top, and wherein portholes, preferably equipped with covers, are provided in the top section, wherein the incubator air supply ducts open into the chamber against and on the inside of the inner shell and the air outlet ducts run out between the inner and the outer shell.
In the present infant incubator, the air flows in on the inside of the inner shell in contrast to the previously known incubators. This ensures that the air circulates through the chamber in which the weakly neonate is lying and provides a constant adequate supply of oxygen-rich air to the infant.
Whilst in the incubator, the infant must be cared for, tests must often be taken and the infant also needs physical contact. In the present incubator, the problem of the incoming air drawing with it xe2x80x9ccoldxe2x80x9d outside air into the chamber of the incubator is reduced or prevented.